Results 201 - 220 of 391
|
||||||
Results from: Answers On or After: Thu 12/31/70 Author: Rowdy Ordered by Verse |
||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
201 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120228 | ||
To start off with, I'd refer you to one of my previous posts, no 119710. And remember, I believe very strongly in the concept of "better safe than sorry." If you can picture the last day and someone knew the last trumpet blow was about to be sounded, which ends the world and the very last thing on everyone's mind is "Do I know for certain, am I actually saved or not?" John tells us, we can know this and know it for certain in 1 Jn 2:3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. I'm convinced that as long as we know the truth, and we've done everything in our power to comply with those commands of God and His representatives, the Apostles, then we can approach Judgment Day with full confidence. Now as to Grace. What about Grace as you've asked? How does that wonderful Grace and Mercy from God figure into this scenario? God will extend His Grace and Mercy as long as we've done our part, He'll do His. His Grace will bridge the gap between His absolute Standard of Perfection as measured out by His Son while He lived here on earth and our puny attempts to strive for perfection in our lives. The way we've lived our lives, in extending forgiveness to those who've wronged us, and acts of kindness in imitation of our Lord as He describes in Matt 25. Thus, this Grace will cover both the sins of commission as well as those we don't do or omission. Let me emphasize these should NOT and CANNOT be considered by us to be acts or works and thus earn our way to Heaven. No, we should see this kind of activity as proof of the Holy Spirit of God living within us. Just as we must prove our identity when we go to an exclusive club or a special ball in honor of a great VIP. Before we can enter Heaven on that fateful day, we must prove to God Himself, we really do have the name of Christ in our hearts. We must be clothed with the attributes of our Lord and Savior. We can't expect to enter into our Heavenly mansion merely by claiming to belong to Jesus as cited in that same passage, Matt 25. We must prove it. This discipleship of Christ, our Lord cannot be just a shallow thing, one of straddling both Christianity and the world. It must be a lifestyle, one that dominates our lives. It must so dominate our life that our neighbor, friends and fellow employees should notice the difference in us, especially when we experience a crisis in our life. How do we handle that crisis? Do we curse or wish something bad on an individual? Do we worry about things in our lives to excess instead of giving our cares to our God and Father? This kind of faith, saving faith must be through and through, completely overtaking us. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying I'm there or yet. I'm saying I'm striving for that wonderful stage of maturity. I hope and pray that I'm drawing closer and closer to God with each breath I draw into my body. AND I hope and pray He is drawing me closer to Him. If a person is willing to just maintain status quo or tread water and not actively pursuing a life of Godly principles, studying His Word and maintaining a constant prayer life, it just might be that he may be rejected at Judgment Day. That in my mind will be such a tragic thing to happen. For a person to play the odds and take a chance when he/she should have known better. That's what "better safe than sorry," and "err on the side of caution" is all about. Yes, in anticipation of your response, some like me will need a lot more Grace than others. I come from a long line of christians (having no excuse) and see myself as owing a lot for the many sins in my life. Remember Paul's instruction Phil 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Although the scripture here says "work our your own salvation," it just means we must make our salvation certain, at least as certain as we can, this side of Judgment Day. I do hope this is clear; I can't possibly make it any clearer. God bless. --Rowdy |
||||||
202 | The Fathers Gifts | Matt 7:11 | Rowdy | 119768 | ||
Copied for context: Matt 7:7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 "Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 "Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! 12 "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets. It seems to me our Lord was speaking about gifts in general. He starts out by talking about asking for whatever from God and He gives as long as it's something we need and can't get for ourselves. We just have to mature and match our needs with God's. Then Jesus compares how mankind gives to his own family members and shows God as being the ultimate Father of all. Naturally He too will give gifts but the difference is He will give perfect gifts. As I see it, there's nothing here to suggest that Jesus is talking about any one specific item or gift to anyone in particular or even a group. He's just reflecting His Father's mindset toward us as His Creation. Good question and God bless. --Rowdy |
||||||
203 | buildikng on the rock | Matt 7:24 | Rowdy | 109075 | ||
I really don't understand why you're asking the question as the verse itself gives the answers but in most of Jesus' parables he would preface them a phrase like "The Kingdom of Heaven is like." In this verse He means the same as with Kingdom of Heaven, He's simply referring to all people world-wide, past, present and future who are genuinely interested in God and His priorities. |
||||||
204 | grace on the cross | Matt 8:4 | Rowdy | 118255 | ||
Until the Lord's Last Will and Testament was executed by His appointed executor on that fateful day on Pentacost as cited in Acts 2, the Law of Moses was still in effect with full power. This is made very clear by Jesus Himself in Matt 8:3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. 4Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." God bless. --Rowdy |
||||||
205 | Once we enter heaven Can webe thrown out | Matt 8:12 | Rowdy | 110711 | ||
I would refer you to Matt 7:15, then to Acts 20 as follows: 25"Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. 28Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.[1] Be shepherds of the church of God,[2] which he bought with his own blood. 29I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Jesus throughout His ministry referred to the Kingdom of Heaven in His parables and other sayings. With that phrase, it's obvious he's referring to all those who are part of God's family, trying to abide by God's will. Now we all know there are false teachers from the prophecies in the Bible as cited above. So, after becoming a christian, a child of God can be deceived and start following the Devil instead. He or she can become "wolf in sheep's clothing" deceiving other naive christians or unlearned of God's Word. That's the only way I can interpret this passage. What are your thoughts on it? God bless. |
||||||
206 | owning a house is debt?? | Matt 10:34 | Rowdy | 111259 | ||
I'm sure this is a tough question for all Americans to face. We claim to be a christian nation but we really aren't, not any more. There's just too many distractions for the average American like our jobs, or our hobbies or even our families. Our Lord made it very clear: If ANYTHING takes top priority over and above Him and His Father, then we're not fit for His kingdom. Christ used the word hate in making this statement but that's just a realtive term and the translators had difficulty with it. The bottom line is we must mature as God's children and grow spiritually to see that God MUST take first place in our hearts. It should be obvious to anyone that really knows us that we would choose Him above all else. Otherwise, He's not really worth dying for and spend eternity with Him in heaven. In Matt 10:34-39, the Lord describes a person who loves Him above all else, even his own blood family if it comes to that. And remember, Jesus also strongly endorsed the OT guidance about honoring one's mother and father. But in the grand scheme of God's world, He and His Son must come first. I hope this helps, study this for yourself and pray about it. God bless. |
||||||
207 | Is Jesus "least" in kingdom of heaven? | Matt 11:11 | Rowdy | 120766 | ||
I'm not certain who Christ is referring to in the latter half of the verse above but it does seem very clear that He's referring to Himself in verse 19, and it appears he's in the same topic. In contrast to this thought I can only quote from Luke 11:29 As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, "This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. 30 "For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 "The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 32 "The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. Here, we can clearly that Christ didn't consider Himself to be the least but I'll let draw from the comparison what you will. God bless. --Rowdy |
||||||
208 | How can Satan cast himself out? | Matt 12:26 | Rowdy | 108402 | ||
Here, Jesus is referring to one of Satan's demons and is saying "How can he cast out one of his own?" Be sure to read all scripture in its context and it'll help you understand it better. Also think about who wrote it, when for the historical context and to whom was it written. Just as God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost are in perfect sync with their whole; the Devil is in sync with his demons (fallen angels). If only we as human beings could be as united in our faith and trust in God, this world would be a far better place to live and bring up our kids. |
||||||
209 | end of world and end of age | Matt 12:32 | Rowdy | 109402 | ||
In my opinion, the only view that makes sense in keeping with the context is the contrast Christ is depicting between this physical world we live in and the next spiritual world we'll live in after this world is destroyed. Another interesting side note for those interested in "secret things" surrounding Christ and His ministry is portrayed in verses 16-20, same chapter. Check it out, it was prophesied that Christ would be this way. Good question. God bless. |
||||||
210 | Did Jesus have any siblings? | Matt 12:46 | Rowdy | 116159 | ||
In my mind, this is the most authoritative verse making it plain Jesus had a physical family here on earth. Matt 12:46 While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. 47 Someone said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You." 48 But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?" 49 And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers! 50 "For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother." We don't hear of His family (other than His mother at the cross) again until the book of James. Apparently, then His brother became a christian after Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. God bless. |
||||||
211 | what is jesus saying about heaven. | Matt 13:24 | Rowdy | 118164 | ||
Cited the whole thing, verses 24-48 for reference. Not really sure why you excluded those particular verses. This is one of the few parables Jesus provides His own interpretation to His disciples. Matt 13:24 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 "But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. 26 "But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 27 "The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' 28 "And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this!' The slaves *said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?' 29 "But he *said, 'No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 'Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.""' 31 He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; 32 and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES." 33 He spoke another parable to them, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened." 34 All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable. 35 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: "I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD." 36 Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." 37 And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. 40 "So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41 "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 "Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. 44 "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46 and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. 47 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; 48 and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. Now concerning verses 44-48: more parables and these are pretty simple to interpret. The key to understanding most of the Lord's parables is to look for one or two points which the Lord is trying to make. It's a mistake to turn a parable into a allegory where every character represents something specific in our world. Here with the latter parables Jesus is trying to depict how valuable and wonderful the Kingdom of God is and will be. Also, a picture of the fact that only a select few will end up in the Kingdom. What more do you see in them? Is there something more specific that I'm missing? God bless. --Rowdy |
||||||
212 | I can't find any specific answer | Matt 16:18 | Rowdy | 120169 | ||
The description of the church and its start, its history all is provided in the Book of Acts. Since it doesn't describe the actual scenario of the Apostles being added to the church, we're left to draw our own conclusions. As for me, since we are given specific instructions like as has been posted before, we can infer that they too followed the same procedures. I believed they followed the same procedures like they prescribed for Cornelious and his household in Acts 10. We don't have any scriptures providing for an alternate procedure for getting into the Lord's church and we know only He can add us to the church. I would guess that among the thousands of people who were baptized and added to the church that day on pentacost, the apostles were certain to baptize each other until all twelve of them were baptized. Is there any other interpretation that could possibly be inferred from God's Word? In supportof this statement, I would refer you to a previous post no 119710. Since we have no reason to think the Apostles would be treated differently, they should have been expected to follow the same procedure as everyone else. I hope this helps and God bless. --Rowdy |
||||||
213 | is this a second coming verse | Matt 16:28 | Rowdy | 109197 | ||
In my opinion, this propechy is fulfilled with Acts 2, the proverbial middle of the Bible. Most everything before points (with future tense) to the establishment of the kingdom. Most everything after this scripture points (with past tense) back to the establishment this same kingdom. | ||||||
214 | Disciples will not die | Matt 16:28 | Rowdy | 121663 | ||
I would definitely state that our Lord meant every word of this verse as He did most everything He said. This prophecy was fulfilled in Acts 2 with the establishment of the church or the Kingdom of God. God bless. --Rowdy | ||||||
215 | For this cause shall a man leave father | Matt 19:4 | Rowdy | 110621 | ||
Remember, most scholars agree that Moses wrote the first 5 books of the OT, with the help of inspiration from the Lord. So everything is written from his perspective, at least several centuries after the events in Genesis took place. |
||||||
216 | Which Mat 18 verse are you referring to | Matt 19:9 | Rowdy | 115367 | ||
I've scanned this thread and I think the verses you're looking for are from Chapter 18, verses 15-17. But the most important feature of this procedure as laid out by our Lord is the condition of the sinner's soul as made plain in Gal 6:1-10. Now, there's one more priority that MUST supercede that of the individual's soul as reflected above. That is the overall condition of the whole of God's family. This was made plain in the OT as cited below. Josh 7:23 They took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel, and they poured them out before the LORD. 24 Then Joshua and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent and all that belonged to him; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor. 25 Joshua said, "Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day." And all Israel stoned them with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. 26 They raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day, and the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the valley of Achor to this day. This kind of priority is further endorsed in the well known stories of Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5 and the sin of incest in 1 Cor 5. You see, God loves all of His creation but He also hates sin and cannot tolerate "sin in the camp." For God's children to allow continued sin in God's family only causes that sin to fester, spread and destroy the whole group. God bless. |
||||||
217 | love the Lord with all your soul? | Matt 22:37 | Rowdy | 127511 | ||
Basically just like it sounds. To love without any reservation, not to withhold anything from him. To some folks across the ocean, this means giving up ties to family and sometimes even their country. Many, many people lose everything, including ALL possessions, their identity, their citizenship, all hope for success in their present world. With submission to Christ, they must accept starting all over again. Yes, this is a terrible cost and Jesus predicted that some people would have to make such a sacrifice when He talked of strife between family members and the tremendous costs as cited in Lk 14:26-33. So you see, we in America have a tremendous debt of gratitude to our fore fathers, from each of our previous generations. God bless America and all of you. Rowdy |
||||||
218 | Who is this "slave"? | Matt 24:45 | Rowdy | 118144 | ||
Cited for reference: Matt 24:45 "Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 "Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 47 "Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 "But if that evil slave says in his heart, 'My master is not coming for a long time,' 49 and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; 50 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, 51 and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. I must admit, this seems fairly straight forward and plain to me but then, maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way and I'm sure you'll several other responses. To me the slave mentioned in verse 45 is the same main character cited throughout this parable of Christ. He's just emphasizing His point about the end of the world and how some people will be found, doing things they wouldn't dream of doing IF they had an "iota" of an idea that the end of the world is about to descend upon them. What do you think? God bless. --Rowdy |
||||||
219 | Trim their lamps? | Matt 25:7 | Rowdy | 109872 | ||
I'd like to think that our spiritual relationship with God, our Father is something like a journey. I love the poem, Footprints in the Sand. Too often we see ourselves as being self-sufficient and not needing God but then we stumble and fall and sometimes we don't even know it. Thanks be to God, He picks up and carries us. But back to your question, our relationship with God takes constant maintenance, self-inspection and occasional kick in the pants to keep us humble. You might say we need to trim our equipment (our soul) so the light of God can shine through us. His light can't shine through very well if we take away people's attention from Him and insist they pay attention to us instead. Just like the adage goes, anything of value takes work to maintain that value. Our relationship with God is incredibly precious and if we expect God or His Son to claim us as family, we must keep up that relationship, abide in His Word and do all we can to glorify Him in this world. Tell me, what do you think it means? |
||||||
220 | Where was Jesus crucified? | Matt 27:33 | Rowdy | 113597 | ||
According to our history books and other historical records, the Roman Empire conquered Israel several years before this timeframe. This is alluded to in the Apophrical books between the Testaments of the Bible. I don't know much about these books but I understand they hold some interesting items of information. Pilate was the Roman official in charge of the whole area whereas Herod was in charge of Galilee only. This area was a continuous source of headaches to the Roman Government in Rome because of their alligence to God and the total lack of respect from the Israelites. No one really looked forward to ruling Israel but Pilate was directed to handle it and do so peacefully. |
||||||
Result pages: << First < Prev [ 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ] Next > Last [20] >> |